Azalia E. Martin, "Roll-Call of the Great" (1904)
Should call from out the land the truly great;
The names this world now holds with haughty pride
Would not all be proclaimed as those of state.
Would we hear but the names of wealthy sires
Who list not to the poor who cry for bread;
Nor think of brotherhood of man to man,
No deed of kindness in the lives they led?
Within some lowly dwelling there may be,
Toiling in humbleness with soul content;
Deep in whose upright heart naught dwells save love,
Where kindness reigns-a life for others spent.
Methinks that voice would call the humbler great,
As it is heard far o'er the hills away;
True greatness is a gem wealth cannot buy,
Nor found by those who seek it day by day.
Some hold the jeweled prize, yet know it not,
When labor's o'er, and he has reached Death's gate;
'Tis then his name is heralded far and near;
He's numbered in the roll call of the great.
Published in Colored American Magazine, April 1904
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